Thread: Timothy Snyder calls it "sadopopulism" In a normal liberal democracy, the leaders enact policies that benefit the population. In the kind of oligarchies springing up in the former Soviet Union (which Trump looks to as a model) the leaders do the opposite. . .

If would-be oligarchs, who want to control all the nation’s wealth, enact policies that benefit their constituents, lower and middle classes to rise up, others can challenge their right to all the wealth and resources.

So they actually hurt their own constituents. . .

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— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) February 10, 2020

We've known for a while that a portion of voters will always vote against their own economic best interests because there's something they want more than economic advancement: They want to be protected from their "enemies."

They're fearful people. Trump stirs their fears.

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— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) February 10, 2020

Here's professor Snyder, talking about Sadopopulism: https://t.co/lJJTXd4Fsg

The lecture is best heard in the context of his series of short lectures, Snyder speaks.

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— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) February 10, 2020